FLUX String Quartet concert Feb. 24
The concert, entitled “Exploring Extended Notation,” will feature Ivan Naranjo’s “A Vibrating Soundless Hum,” Giacinto Scelsi’s “String Quartet No. 3, in 5 parts,” Earle Brown’s “December 1952, from Folio,” John Cage’s “Variations II,” and Greg Bowers’s “String Quartet No. 2, By-Products of Mass Media.”
The FLUX Quartet – Tom Chiu and Conrad Harris (violin); Max Mandel (viola), and Felix Fan (cello) -- has performed to rave reviews at music centers throughout the United States, including Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Da Camera of Houston, the Walker Art Center, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, and Carnegie’s Zankel Hall.
It has also recently made two acclaimed international debuts: in Ireland at the Samuel Beckett Centenary Festival, and in Mexico at the Chihuahua International Arts Festival.
The FLUX Quartet has captivated audiences worldwide with a vivid repertoire balanced between notable pioneers as well as visionaries of tomorrow. From “classics” by Scelsi, Conlon Nancarrow, Anton Webern, and Iannis Xenakis, to new works by David First, Roscoe Mitchell, Matthew Welch, and John Zorn, a New York Times critic wrote that FLUX brings to all of its performances a “boundless, uninhibited energy.”
The spirit to explore and expand stylistic boundaries is a trademark of the FLUX Quartet. Inspired in part by the 60’s Fluxus art movement, violinist Tom Chiu founded the FLUX Quartet with a quest similar to that of some of the original Fluxus artists: a search for a living art for all people with an embracing "anything-goes" spirit.
To that end, FLUX has always been committed to projects of unique vision that defy aesthetic categorization. One such project is Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. 2. Lasting more than six continuous hours, Alex Ross of The New Yorker called it “a disorienting, transfixing experience that repeatedly approached and touched the sublime.”
